We read charcoal tempering as an optional step at the end of online recipes. I wonder how many people try this. No one I know has tried it. I never tried it. Until now.
On the outset, let me mention that it is remarkably easy to do. All you need is a piece of charcoal, a gas stove, and oil. I used ghee.
The videos below show the straightforward process of how to charcoal temper your dish. You can see I tried to quickly move the hot piece of charcoal from the stove to the bowl. And then, quickly poured ghee on it and put the cover on the pan. But we need not be so quick. Handle the hot charcoal carefully and you can take a few seconds to pour oil and complete the process. Do keep everything ready beforehand though.
Handling charcoal is messy but does not need to be. Some obvious points: remove only the required piece from the storage bag; handle charcoal with a tong, not your fingers; have everything ready - bowl in the middle of the pan, oil and pan cover; and move the charcoal directly from the bag to the lit stove. Pro tip: heat the oil before pouring over the hot piece of charcoal. That would bring the oil closer to its smoke point. Cold oil is thicker and quickly falls to the bottom of the bowl.
At the end, the flavour is worth the hassle. However, the dish will start to lose the smoky flavour when refrigerated. I reckon that commercial establishments do the charcoal tempering in small batches right before serving individual orders.
Next, I want to temper some Masala Chai. Once I had tea that was made over a wood burning stove and it had an amazing smoky flavour. I wonder whether I can get the same flavour at home. Let me see and I will keep you posted.
Here are the videos:
Step 1: heat the charcoal on gas stove until it's red
Step 2: Place the hot charcoal on a bowl placed in the middle of the cooked dish
Step 3: Pour oil / ghee on the hot charcoal
Step 4: Cover the pan
Checking the pan once the smoke starts to settle
Looks good and smells amazing
Cooked to perfection
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